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Ms Mortimer said her son, Nicholas, who slept in the cradle in 1977, had borrowed the cradle and taken it to his home in Canberra after the birth of his first daughter, Tearia, last month.

Evans had spoken of visiting Nicholas and his baby when he and his partner, painter Angela Brunton, next visited Canberra, Ms Mortimer said.

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She said the cradle's survival was a glimmer of happiness in a town with virtually no good news.

"It's very, very meaningful to the community and it's a lovely thing that's been passed around," Ms Mortimer said.

"It's a unique community. It's very special and that's why we live here, I guess."

Ms Mortimer said she didn't think that any of the people whose names had been carved into the cradle had died in the fires, because many had grown up and moved away.

Ms Mortimer's granddaughter, Tearia, and her mother and father are coming to Melbourne today to help comfort her and her husband, Geoff.

The couple were the only ones in Rankines Road to survive inside their own home, after sheltering in a purpose-built pantry with three other people and a dog. "The whole house was made of solid mudbrick, but the pantry was purpose-built with no outside windows so it had no ventilation," Ms Mortimer said. "But no radiant heat could penetrate that pantry, and that's why we survived."

Ms Mortimer said their survival was "a lesson" that every house should have a purpose-built room.

Ms Mortimer said her son, 31, would eventually return the cradle to St Andrews, and the town's tradition would continue.

"It's a huge tribute to Reg, really, and we'll keep that going and we'll look after that now," she said.